Newly Launched Google Instant: Is it Good or Bad for SEO?

Google Instant, the latest offering from Google, has created quite a buzz, as expected. Google Instant predicts search queries and instantly shows results as the user types. This new feature uses Google’s autocomplete technology. When a user begins to type for a search query, it instantly shows popular search results, beginning with those letters. The predicted results are shown in light grey in the search box along with search results and ads for that predicted query. According to Google’s Marissa Mayer, this new search enhancement will bring a “fundamental shift in search.”

The new update, though has raised doubts about, how it will impact the page traffic to a Website. However, responding to all speculations, Google has assured that the latest update will have no significant impact on the ranking of search results. Google also added that the new feature will not change the way ads are served but now they will be displayed as per the "predicted query."

What Benefits Does Google Instant Gives:

Fast Search Results: Google Instant, by predicting the search query shows relevant results, even before the user finishes typing. It has the ability to save up to 2-5 seconds per search.

Smart Predictions: The user sometimes might not be sure, what to type in the search box to get the desired result. Google Instant guides the user with better search predictions.

Its Impact On Ad Impressions On Google Instant, ad impressions are counted only when:

A user starts to type a query in the search box and clicks on any part of the page – a search result, an ad, a spell correction or a related search.

A user selects to click on a particular search result or selects one of the predicted search queries.

If a user stops typing further and the search results stay on the page for minimum 3 seconds.

Google said that with Google Instant, advertisers might find their impression levels to increase or decrease depending on the predicted queries. However, it has the potential to improve the quality of clicks as because, users type such terms, that they believe would give them the desired answers. This may lead to improvement in the overall campaign performance.

Its Impact On Long Tailed Keywords

Google Instant is surely going to give a boost to long-tailed specific keywords. With it, the user will keep on typing until the desired results are not displayed. This will help in better conversions unlike before.

Its Impact On User Experience

A former Product Manager for search quality with Google, Avichal Garg, points that "It will have a tremendous impact." According to him, the effect of Google Instant on SEO and search performance, will be defined according to the user experience rather than ranking algorithms now. He also, predicted that users' click patterns, page scanning behavior and query construction patterns will see a major change with the emergence of Google Instant.

“If everyone uses Google Instant globally, we estimate this will save more than 3.5 billion seconds a day. That’s 11 hours saved every second.” With over a billion searches a day and over a billion users searching each week, that adds up to 350 million hours of user time saved a year” said Google's Matt Cutts

Google Instant has been launched for users in US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Russia who use the following browsers: Chrome v5/6, Firefox v3, Safari v5 for Mac and Internet Explorer v8. In the coming weeks and months, Google has plans to make changes on it, in order to cater to different geographic locations and platforms. Google also said that, it is planning to make it available on mobile quite soon.

These improvements to Google will certainly manage to change the way how people do their search. What only remains to be seen is how good or bad, it will be for ad impressions.

Navneet Kaushal

Navneet Kaushal is the founder and CEO of PageTraffic, an SEO Agency in India with offices in Chicago, Mumbai and London. A leading search strategist, Navneet helps clients maintain an edge in search engines and the online media. Navneet's expertise has established PageTraffic as one of the most awarded and successful search marketing agencies.

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